LRS Lady Broncos sweep first doubleheader of the season

The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague fastpitch team’s first doubleheader of the season was postponed from March 22 to March 26 due to rain. On March 26 the team took on the Wilbur-Creston Lady Wildcats for their season opener.

The Lady Broncos were able to take the win in both games by ten running the opponent, 17-7 and 16-6.

Emma Aldrich pitched the all five innings of the first game and held the Lady Wildcats to three hits and six walks, while bringing down three strikeouts.

Defensively, Head Coach Todd O’Brien was pleased with the way the team played. He saw some exceptional plays from the team.

Emily Kinney acted as a strong third baseman while Laurel Hayes held things down in left field. The team as a whole only had one error in this first game.

Offensively Tessa O’Brien split her time at bat and went 2 for 4. Emily Rosen went 3 for 4 with a double, all of which were RBIs and Aldrich went 2 for 2 at the plate.

The Lady Broncos kicked off the game with seven runs and held their lead throughout the entire game, scoring in every inning.

Wilbur-Creston put up runs in the second, third and fifth inning but it was ultimately not enough.

The second game went through the sixth with Aldrich pitching the entire game again as in the first game some innings were below ten pitches.

With such a low pitch count she was able to take to the mound again and allowed seven hits and gave up three walks.

This game began slower than the previous with both teams tied 1-1 after the first inning.

In the second inning the Wilbur-Creston pitcher struggled to keep pitches above the plate and allowed for numerous walks for the Lady Broncos.

With so many balls thrown Coach O’Brien was pleased to see his team show patience and wait for good pitches. When those good pitches came, they swung hard.

Alisha Baker finished 3 for 5 with three RBIs, Kinney went 2-2 and Lacey Miller split her at bats 2-4 with a double.

Once again the Lady Broncos were able to secure runs in every inning during this second match up.

Defensively the team incurred two errors during the second game.

O’Brien played 10 girls as some on the roster were injured or ineligible due to the number of practices required prior to suiting up.

The Lady Broncos moved on to face Northwest Christian on Tuesday, March 28, at Northwest Christian.

The Lady Crusaders were the league champions last year and have a few more games under their belt this season with five games played already.

O’Brien sees this game as a good way to see where they will stack up in comparison to the rest of the league. He expects the team to be competitive but knows they have their work cut out for them.

They have to follow this doubleheader with games versus the other top teams in the league including Kettle Falls and Colfax.

While the team may not come out of these tough league games 6-0, O’Brien likes their chances.

Aldrich was the starting pitcher and he wants to see speed in the top, middle and bottom of the game from her. The team worked on batting with the speed turned up on the pitching machine as he expected the Lady Crusader’s pitching to be good.

They also worked on defensive items as well as situational base running to prepare for the game.

These are the items O’Brien expects to help them face these top league competitors and they will undoubtedly work on them for the next three match ups.

The Lady Broncos’ next home game is a doubleheader versus Kettle Falls on April 2, starting at 12 p.m. They will then turn around and face the Colfax Lady Bulldogs in Ritzville on Saturday, April 9, also beginning at 12 p.m.